


Perfectly Natural

by seekergeek



Series: John Farr [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Dubious Consent, John Farr, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-27
Updated: 2010-01-27
Packaged: 2017-10-06 17:46:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seekergeek/pseuds/seekergeek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>That year, John hit the panic button four times.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perfectly Natural

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Cycle](https://archiveofourown.org/works/54674) by [lavvyan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavvyan/pseuds/lavvyan). 



> I was entranced by Lavvyan's Cycle and decided to do some backstory for John. I went in a slightly different direction than sabinelagrande with Skin Hunger and Leah's Being a Receptor though, so this is a different AU than theirs.

John remembers the class. Boys and girls were carefully separated, then taken to the gym to see a cheesy film from the 50's entitled "Your Cycle and You". The lecture afterward, with the careful descriptions of what to expect and the long detailed explanations of the panic buttons and what to do if the cycling person glomming onto you didn't bring an answering response within yourself. And then the admonishments to be careful and to call in for your school assignments on days that you cycled because the principal and their parents wanted everyone to wait until their education was finished first. Finally they were let free and he and his buddies laughed and made lame jokes about it for the rest of the day.

That year, John hit the panic button four times.

It wasn't until later that he thought that something might be wrong with him. It was late one night with his college buddies, drinking cheap beer and telling embarrassing stories when John realized that he'd never done it. Everyone had stories of losing it by accident. Forgetting it was the first day of their cycle. Accidental brushing while unavoidably out in public. Everyone except John. Who was, in fact, lazy about covering up during his cycle. Who went out without really thinking if it was his cycle or not. Because nothing ever happened on his side of the equation and he'd gotten really good at noting where the panic buttons were. The realization came as a cold hard shock, sobering John up instantly.

The next day he finally said yes to going to one of those snooty "find your match" socials his father was constantly pressuring him to go to.

At "find your match" social number oh my god this is tiresome, John decided that there was something wrong with him. And the thought scared him so much that the next time he was slammed against the wall he closed his eyes and just let it happen. Nancy was pretty at least, and his father seemed to like her a lot. It would have to do. Since it looked like it was never going to happen for him. And at least his father would be happy with him for a change. John just hoped that it would be enough, ignoring the empty sensation in his chest as Nancy rubbed herself all over him, sucking on his neck. The next day Patrick Sheppard started gleefully planning the wedding. John went back to base.

"Why did you lie to me like that?" Nancy asked tearfully, later. "Did you think I wouldn't notice when our cycles never synced up? When you never went after me during yours?"

John didn't have anything to say to that. Instead, he signed the divorce papers and walked out of the attorney's office, leaving his ring by the pen.

Eventually John convinced himself that he didn't want a match anyways. It would probably interfere with his career, and he liked living by himself. It meant that he never had to have the toilet paper argument ever again. He dutifully took his cycle days off when he could. He made sure to cover up when he couldn't. And in the battlefield, where stress threw everyone's cycle off, John grew adept at avoiding touching anybody, just to make sure he didn't set someone else off. And if he occasionally felt a little lonely, it wasn't anybody's business but his own and he soon found something to occupy his time.

Then, strung out and exhausted from his last assignment, he arrived back stateside and most of the rest of his clothes didn't. And on the third day back he realized that he was cycling, had a training session that he had to go to and still no clothes to speak of. And he really needed a god-damned pair of gloves if he wasn't going to risk the embarrassment of setting yet another person off and not responding back. Fuck.

He grabbed his keys and went to the mall.


End file.
